Paris: Day 5 (continued)

After we had our fill of vulgarity in Pigalle, we were conveniently located near the Abesses metro station. This was on the same line that would take us to L'Etoile. (Of course, this was carefully planned by myself. The rest of my party had no idea how much planning it took to get us to all the sites in a somewhat orderly and timely fashion! Not to pat myself on the back or anything, but I think I'm a pretty good travel agent).

We'd been able to see the Arc de Triomphe from the Eiffel Tower. Remember this?

But we still didn't have a good awareness of how massive that thing is until we went to see it up close and personal. I also didn't really have much of a sense that what makes it the Star is the fact that there are a bunch of major traffic thoroughfares that radiate out from it. One would certainly take their life in their hands if they were to attempt to cross traffic here!

After snapping pics of the famed arch, it was time to traverse the Champs Elysees. Although we hardly seemed like the chic Parisians of yore who whiled away their Sunday afternoons by parading the grandes avenues to see and be seen, it was a fun place for us. An equally good view of the Arc de Triomphe actually came from much further down the Champs. (Please note that I risked bodily harm to take this photograph. I was almost stampeded by three Japanese tourists in a hurry to get into Louis Vuitton).

Chanel, and Prada, and Van Cleef, oh my! Every designer who is anyone has a flagship store there or the nearby Avenue Mountaigne, but the mainstream has now made its presence on the Champs as well. Not far from Nina Ricci was Sephora and the Virgin Megastore. Rebecca didn't care much for haute couture, but she was certain that there should be a toy store in this mass of shops. I promised her that if there was a toy store, we would go in. As my luck would have it, there was a Disney Store on the Champs Elysees. True to my word, we went in so she could buy a Tinkerbell purse that we could have bought at the mall 15 minutes from our house. Moreover, I had to stand in line for half an hour in an unairconditioned store to do it. One of the highlights for me was a trip inside the mint green Laudree cafe to see their fantastic buffet of macaroons. The line was incredibly long, so we didn't eat there (I knew there was a Laudree in the department stores too). But even the way they package things up just feels sumptuous, doesn't it?

It was a really fun day, full of a lot of walking and exploring, and we were exhausted! That night, we strolled around in the Marais and had dinner at one of the little cafes near the Place des Vosges. Ramy and I did a little more strolling than our other two ladies, however!